If you travel on Alpine Road ­— and we all do — you might have noticed a lack of truck traffic lately. That’s because the Illinois Department of Transportation has slapped load limit signs on two box culvert bridges on the busy north-south route.

One is at Aldeen Park, where the north branch of Keith Creek crosses Alpine. The other is at Alpine Park, where the south branch of Keith Creek crosses the same road.

If you’re driving a car, pickup truck or other light vehicle, even a school bus, you’re not affected. But if you’re driving a Rockford fire engine, chances are you no longer can get to the fire or ambulance call on Alpine. And if you’re piloting a loaded semitrailer rig, fuggedaboutit.

Whatever taxpayers spent for those culverts, they got more than their money’s worth. They were built in the 1920s or early 1930s and have lasted ever since, even though the road and the culverts have been widened since then, says Matt Vitner, city engineer.

Still, they passed inspections routinely until last fall, when inspectors noticed that serious deterioration of the concrete and rebar had set in during the previous two years.

Vitner guessed that replacement costs for the North Alpine culvert will be about $1 million; for the one on South Alpine the cost will be about $750,000. He’ll try to get IDOT to rearrange priorities in its Region 2 capital improvement program to fix the bridges, “and I want to make a presentation to the City Council in May. I’ve already talked to the fire chief, and he has planned new response routes and reassigned all equipment to account for this,” Vitner said.

Vitner says that replacing these two bridges is a top priority to protect public safety and the city’s commercial viability.

“I’ve already had a trucking company that uses Alpine call me,” Vitner said. “They’re concerned about having to divert their trucks over longer routes that require more fuel.”

Because four branches of two creeks meander through the city on their way to the Rock River, we have 124 small bridges or box culverts, 88 of which require state inspection because they are at least 20 feet long.

Vitner says various load limits have been placed on 13 of these structures, four of which are on key roads, including one on Harrison Avenue near 20th Street and a ramp bridge leading to the Whitman Street Bridge.

In other news

From the department of “Wascally Wepublicans” comes this faux pas, which is French for “D’oh!”

Page 2 of 2 - Winnebago County Republican Central Committee Chairman Jim Thompson sent out a party newsletter that featured the usual round of party announcements, including local GOP participation in the “Juneteenth” event on June 19 at Sinnissippi Park. It’s a traditionally African-American celebration commemorating the freeing of the slaves in 1865. It’s nice that the GOP is finally reaching out to black voters.

At the end of the newsletter, Thompson, who apparently thought he’d have a little fun, shared this little gemlet:

“Media update for the week: saw on the news this week the offspring of a donkey and a zebra, black and white legs, rest all donkey. Not sure why this is news. Now if we can teach him to read a teleprompter, we could have two living creatures the media will fawn over that is part white, part black and all a**!”

Well. That got picked up by Talking Points Memo, and it went viral. Winnebago County Democratic Central Committee Chairman Charlie Laskonis cranked out a tut-tut-tut response: “As Democratic Party Chairman of such a wonderfully diverse county that supports a large African-American and Hispanic population and heritage, I found it sad, ignorant, and awfully insulting that my counterpart compared President Barack Obama to a half donkey/half zebra ... I think he owes an apology to all of the citizens that reside in Winnebago County.”

Thompson issued a follow-up statement: “I would like to offer my sincere apology to those who were offended, and I regret including this item in the newsletter. In the future, it most certainly won’t happen again.”